Haul-off devices



Dec. 18, 1962 N. s. DEAN ETAL 3,069,

HAUL-OFF DEVICES Filed March 14, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l Judo.

y M Attorney Dec. 18, 1962 N. s. DEAN ETAL HAUL-OFF DEVICES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 14, 1961 I nvalor v09, Uorney United States Patent Otiice 3,069,108 Patented Dec. 18, 1962 3,069,108 HAUL OFF DEVICES Noel Spencer Dean, Orrell, Wigan, and Ronald Frederick Tarhox, Oid (Coulsdon, England, assignors to British Insulated Callenders Cahies Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Mar. 14', 1961, Ser. No. 95,526 Claims priority, application Great Britain Apr. 4, 1960 13 Claims. (Cl. 242-32) This invention relates to haul-off devices for bare or covered wire, for accepting wire from a processing apparatus or other source of supply and advancing it towards a receiver on or in which the wire is collected in coil form. The object of the present invention is to improve or modify the device in accordance with copending application Serial No. 6,896 of Harvey Burr and Brian John Wardley to make it especially suitable for filling an annular container.

A feature of the device in accordance with said above mentioned application is that in certain circumstances the receiver for the wire is rotated about an axis displaced from or coincident with the track axis at a speed low compared with the flier speed, more especially when the wire is being fed in coil form into a cylindrical container. The present invention is based on our discovery that it is advantageous in such circumstances to move the track about its axis or about an axis parallel to the track axis. The container. can then remain stationary with its axis displaced from or coincident with the axis of the track. V

In accordance with the present invention therefore a haul-off device comprises a ring wall whose internal surface forms an endless track means for moving the ring wall about an axis encompassed thereby, that is about its axis and/or around a fixed axis parallel thereto, means for driving a roller along the track and means for leading the wire towards the centre of the track and then towards and onto that part of the peripheral surface of the roller that is approaching the track. The device functions in the same Way as the device in accordance with the above mentioned application except that the wire is delivered as a helix which at its point of delivery rotates about its axis and/ or moves around an axis substantially parallel thereto.

A wire haul-oit device in accordance with the invention, incorporated in a machine for filling an annular container with wire, will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional elevation of the haul-off device only,

FIGURE 2 is an elevation partly in section of the complete machine, and

FIGURE 3 is an elevation showing details of parts of the machine omitted from FIGURES 1 and 2.

Except for the structural changes involved in rotating the track, the machine is similar to that described by way of example in the above mentioned application. The wire is shown dotted and it passes through the machine along the path marked A to F.

The haul-oii device shown in FIGURE 1 will first be described. It is supported from a horizontal table 1, (which can also be seen in section in FIGURE 2) by means of an upper hollow spindle 2 which transmits the drive from a belt 3 to a flyer 4 and also rotates a ring wall 5, incorporating a track 6. The hollow spindle 2 rotates in a bearing 7 supported beneath the table 1 and carries at its lower end a bracket 8 supporting a flat plate 9, to the under surface of which the ring wall 5 is attached. The flyer 4 is carried at the lower end of a lower hollow spindle 10, running in a bearing 11 secured beneath the plate 9. The lower spindle 1!) is driven through pinions 12 and 13 by means of a pinion 14 that runs on internal teeth cut on the inner surface of a ring 15, supported by a short cylindrical casing 16 attached tothe table 1.

The wire passes downwards through the upper hollow spindle 2 along the path marked C then into the hollow spindle 10 and along the path marked D, the lower and upper ends of the bores of the spindles 2 and 10 re spectively being shaped to provide a smooth passage for the wire. From the lower end of the lower spindle 10 the wire passes around a pulley 17 mounted on the flyer 4 along the path B through the wall of the flyer 4 on to that part of the peripheral surface of a track roller 18 also mounted on the flyer 4 which is approaching the track 6. A length of the guide tube 19 adjacent the roller is curved in a reverse sense to the peripheral surface of the roller 18, whereby the tendency of the Wire to assume the curvature of the periphery of the roller is reduced, the tube 19 also being curved towards the container 20. After passage between the roller and the track, the wire passes through guide tube 19 along the path F helically into an annular container 29 (FIGURE 2). The pulley I7 is so mounted on the flyer 4 that the axis of the track is tangential to its effective periphery and the peripheries of the pulley 17 and roller 18 have a common tangent. The flyer 4 carries a second roller 21 and a balance weight 22, to balance the roller 18 and pulley 17 respectively. Similarly the pinion 14, which drives the flyer, is balanced by a pinion 23 running on the internal teeth out in the ring 15. At the point of delivery the helix of wire being delivered will rotate with the ring wall 5 but as the helix passes into the stationary container its angular speed of rotation will progressively decrease. Since the direction of rotation of the track is the same as that of the flyer, as the wire falls in coil form into or on to a fixed receiver, there is a tendency for the coils to be reduced in diameter owing to the relative rotation of the track on which they are formed and the receiver into which they fall.

Referring to FIGURE 2, it will be seen that the table 1 is supported between the main side plates of the machine, only one of which (24) is shown in this figure, and that the drive to the flyer is transmitted from an electric motor 25, through a gear box 26, a belt 27, and shaft 28 to the belt 3 shown in FIGURE 1. Before passing downwards into the upper hollow spindle 2, along the path C, the wire passes along the path A over a floating pulley 29 and then along a path 13 over a xed pulley 30. Changes in tension in the wire move the pulley 29 horizontally against a balancing weight and this movement controls the speed of the drive in the same manner as is described in the specification of the above mentioned application.

The annular container 24) is arranged with its vertical axis coinciding with the axis of the hollow shaft 2 and no provision is made for rotating this container.

When the drive is transmitted through the belt 3 to the spindle 2, the ring Wall 5 is rotated bodily about the upper spindle 2 and at the same time the flyer is rotated at a higher speed about the lower spindle 10, the ratio of these two speeds being determined by the number of teeth on the pinions 12, 13 and i4 and on the inner 3 surface of the ring 15. .This ratio is preferably such that the flyer 4 rotates approximately 45) times about its axis for every revolution of the plate 9 and the ring wall about the upper spindle 2. The ring wall rotates about its axis once for every revolution of its axis about the axis of the spindle 2.

Privision is made for temporarily supporting the coils issuing from the guide tube 1? during changing of container. Referring to FIGURES l and 3, the temporary support consists of a number of fingers 31 mounted on the lower ends of sindles 32 that pass through a circular bracket 33 attached to the ring wall 5 of the hauloti device four uprights 34. Attached to the upper end of each of the spindles 32 is a sprocket 35 and a continuous chain 36 passes around all these sprockets. One of the spindles 32 carries on its upper end a hand lever 37 by which the fingers 31 can be moved from a position in which tle coils are caught to a position in which they can pass freely downwards. To limit the movement of the fingers 31 between these two positions, two pairs of stops are provided comprising pins 39 and 40 projecting from the hubs of two of the sprockets 35 and pins 41 and projecting from the upper surface of the circular bracket 33.

When the speed of rotation of the head is such that the lever 37 cannot be conveniently operated by hand, a suitable mechanical coupling can be provided. Although it is preferable that, as in the embodiment described, the movement of the track should have acornponent which is simple rotation about its axis and that this movement should be complex, in that the axis of the track itself also moves around a parallel axis, the track may move around an axis parallel to its own axis without rotating about its own axis.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. A wire haul-off device comprising a ring wall whose internal surface forms an endless track, means for moving the ring wall about an axis encompassed by the ring wall, a wire driving roller, means for causing the roller to roll along the track and means for leading wire substantially axially towards the centre of the track and then on to that part of the peripheral surface of the roller that is approaching the track, whereby as the roller rolls along its track it momentarily traps between it and the track successive elemental lengths of wire and draws the wire through the device and delivers it downwards as a helix which at its point of delivery moves about said axis.

2. A wire haul-off device comprising a ring wall whose internal surface forms an endless track, means for moving the ring wall about an axis encompassed by the ring wall, a wire driving roller, means for causing the roller to roll along the track, means for leading wire substantially axially towards the centre of the track and then on to that part of the peripheral surface of the roller that is approaching the track and, on the delivery side of the travelling roller, a tubular guide, through which the wire passes as it is released, which deflects the wire towards a support on which it is collected and prevents t e wire from escaping laterally from between the travelling roller and its track, whereby as the roller rolls along its track it momentarily traps between it and the track successive elemental lengths of wire, draws the wire through the device, feeds it through the guide and delivers it downwards as a helix which at its point of delivery moves about said axis.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 in which a length f the tubular guide adjacent the roller is curved in a reverse sense to the peripheral surface of the roller, whereby the tendency of the wire to assume the curvature of the periphery of the roller is reduced, the whole or a part of the remainder of the tube being curved towards the support.

4. A wire haul-oft" device comprising a ring Wall whose internal surface is .cylindrical and forms a circular endless track, means for moving the ring wall about an axis encompassed by the ring wall, a circular roller, a ilyer carrying the roller, means for rotating the ilyer to cause the roller to roll along the track, and means for leading wire substantially axially towards the centre of the track and then on to that part of the peripheral surface of the roller that is approaching the track, wherc by as the roller rolls along its track it momentarily traps between it and the track successive elemental lengths of wire and draws the wire through the device and delivers it downwards as a helix which at its point of delivery moves about said axis.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4 in which the means for guiding the wire to the roller comprises a second pulley around which the axially travelling wire passes and by which it is deflected towards the periphery of the roller, said pulley being so mounted on the fiyer that the axis of the track is tangential to its effective periphery and the peripheries of the roller and pulley have a common tangent.

6. A wire haul-off device comprising a ring wall whose internal surface forms an endless track with its axis vertical, means for moving the ring wall about an axis encompassed by the ring wall, a wire driving roller, means for causing the roller to roll along the track, means for leading wire substantially axially downwards towards the centre of the track and then on to that part of the peripheral surface of the roller that is approaching the track, whereby as the roller rolls along its track it momentarily traps between it and the track successive elemental lengths of wire, draws the wire through the device and delivers it downwards as a helix which at its point of delivery moves about said axis, and means for temporarily supporting the coils of wire issuing from the device in the form of one or more members and means for moving said members from a position in which it or they support the coils into a position in which the coils can fall freely downwardly from the haul-off device.

7. A wire haul-off device as claimed in claim 6 in which the means for temporarily supporting the coils comprises a number of inwardly projecting fingers and means for moving them from a position in which they support the coils into a position in which they allow the coils to fall freely downwards from the haul-off device.

8. A wire haul-off device as claimed in claim 6 in which the means for temporarily supporting the coils comprises a number of fingers, which project substantially radially towards the axis of the haul-off device in a plane parallel to and a short distance below the plane of the lower edge of the horizontal track and means for pivotally supporting said fingers at their ends for movement about vertical axes, in such a way that they can be rotated from this position into a position in which they do not prevent the coils from falling freely downwards from the haul-off device.

9. The combination of a device as claimed in claim 1, in which the track rotates about a fixed axis and means is provided for so coupling the means for moving the track with the means for causing the roller to roll along the track that the speed of rotation of the track about said axis is low compared with the speed of rotation of the roller about said axis, with means for mounting a cylindrical container with its axis vertical and parallel with but displaced from said axis, whereby each deposited coil is laterally displaced relative to the last of the deposited coils.

10. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which the axis of the track rotates about a fixed axis parallel thereto.

11. A device as claimed in claim 2, in which the axis of the track rotates about a fixed axis parallel thereto.

12. A device as claimed in claim 4, in which the axis of the track rotates about a fixed axis parallel thereto.

13. The combination of a device as claimed in claim 1, in which the axis of the track moves about a fixed 5 6 axis and means is provided for so coupling the means for References Cited in the file of this patent moving the track with the means for causing the roller to roll along the track that the speed of rotation of the track UNITED STATES PATENTS about said axis is low compared with the speed of rotation 2 157 811 Beach May 1939 of the roller about the axis of the track, with means for 5 3 3 De X y 1953 mounting a cylindrical container with its axis coinciding 2,886,258 'HaugYvltz May 1959 with said fixed axis, whereby each deposited coil is later- 2,929,493 Hennlng M311 1960 ally displaced relative to the last of the deposited coils. 

